A Singapore firm has launched a water monitoring system that combines currently complicated processes into a single device, a local television channel reported Wednesday.

The new system designed by Membrane Instruments and Technology, a spin-off company by Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, is able to pinpoint with accuracy any faults in water plant filters without having to bring sections of water plants off line, Channel NewsAsia said.

Water plants running on membrane technology currently have to perform three monitoring processes on daily basis, including running tests to ascertain the exact state of the membrane and pinpointing the exact location of contamination. But to do so, sections of the plant have to go off line first.

The new device, however, combines all three monitoring processes into a single system, and is able to pinpoint any faults in water plant filters without sections of the water plants going off line.

It is also five-times more sensitive than current low-pressure monitoring systems.

Adrian Yeo, general manager of the start-up company, said the system is based on the deposition of particles on the membrane.

"If the water is clean, the rate of deposition is slower, if the water is dirty, the rate of deposition is faster. By monitoring the rate of deposition, we're able to detect any changes in the water quality," he said.

The company said the new device translates to cost savings of about 200,000 Singapore dollars ($160,000) a year for water plants.

Trials of the system have been implemented in two companies in Singapore, and one each in France and Australia.